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Scarecrow Series
The Scarecrow Series is a group of novels following the adventures of United States Marine Shane Schofield, aka, the Scarecrow. Stories Novels #''Ice Station'' (August, 1998) #''Area 7'' (October, 2001) #''Scarecrow'' (November, 2003) #''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves'' (October, 2011) - Scarecrow Returns in the United States. Novellas * Hell Island (2005) - Set between Scarecrow and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves Main Characters The leading characters appearing throughout the series are: Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield: the main protagonist of the series, and one of only two characters to appear in every story. [[Gena Newman|'Gena "Mother" Newman']]: Schofield's primary ally throughout the series, and the second of only two characters to appear in every story. [[Elizabeth Gant|'Elizabeth "Fox" Gant']]: Schofield's first love interest in the series initially serving under his command, until Scarecrow. Buck "Book II" Riley Jr: The son of a former soldier serving under Schofield, who first appears in Area 7. David Fairfax: A cryptanalyst for the DIA, and one of Schofield's friends, who first appears in Area 7. Setting Discrepancies There are several hints that Schofield's age and the years that his initial adventures take place in have been altered over the years. When first introduced in Ice Station, Schofield is stated to be 32 years old, when the book was set in 1999. However, in Scarecrow, set in 2003, Schofield is stated to be 33 years old, and later in The Four Legendary Kingdoms, set in 2016, Schofield's Champion Profile states that he is 42 years, ignoring the 17-year gap. Additionally, despite being released eight years following Scarecrow, it was suggested that Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves took place within a year or two of Scarecrow (and some months after Hell Island), even though many real-life events such as the passing of the 2008 Olympics and technological updates (as of 2011) were referenced. All of this implies that the Scarecrow Series may exist within a floating timeline. If one takes Schofield's age in The Four Legendary Kingdoms and works backwards with the 10-year difference to his age in Ice Station (and ignoring his claimed age in Scarecrow), then it suggests that he was born in 1973/1974 instead of the 1966/1967 indicated by Ice Station. From this information, the novels in the Scarecrow Series would instead be set during these times: *''Ice Station'', originally set in June 1999, would instead take place during 2006. *''Area 7'', stated to take place 18 months after Ice Station but more likely 11 months later in July 2000, would take place in 2007. *''Scarecrow'', stated to be set in October 2003, despite it being suggested to have been just over a year after Area 7, could be considered to take place in 2008. *''Hell Island'' is stated to take place in August 2005, nearly two years after Scarecrow, so it could take place in 2010. *''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves'' does not give any hints to how much time has passed since Scarecrow, but Schofield is noted to be in his mid 30s and it is implied to take place one to two years later, which would make it 2009 to 2010. This is in contradiction to Hell Island's setting, but the novella story could easily be inserted into the gap between the two novels. Regardless of these calculations, there would still be some historical discrepancies between real world events and events that occur in the series, but they allow for a more streamlined timeline up until Schofield's last physical appearance (at present) in The Four Legendary Kingdoms. Trivia *This is the first series that Matthew Reilly created. *With the release of The Four Legendary Kingdoms from the Huntsman series, the appearance of Schofield and Mother (as well as some noted details from the Scarecrow Series being mentioned) confirms that both series are set in the same fictional universe. **A connection to the Huntsman series had already been implied but not confirmed; Sean "Astro" Miller first appeared in the novella Hell Island as a minor character, and would later appear in a supporting role in both The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors. *There has also been suggested connections to the stand-alone novel Temple, mainly regarding the Supernova. **In Area 7, Elvis suggests that the Area 7 Air Force base was working on the superbomb, and that they needed a special element to power it. **In the Hell Island novella, DARPA's rumoured Superbomb project is referenced. *During The Three Secret Cities of the Huntsman Series, Iolanthe notes that Elizabeth I had a diary recounting that she and Roger Ascham went to a chess tournament in Constantinople. This occurred in Reilly's novel The Tournament, revealing it is set in the same fictional universe as the Scarecrow and Huntsman series. References *http://matthewreilly.com/ Category:Series Category:Content